Current Activities

Draft Permit Prepared: The department prepared a draft Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Facility Part I Permit for the Trioxy Inc. facility. The department invites the public to review and offer written comments on the draft Part I Permit until April 2, 2018.

During the public comment period, anyone can request a public meeting or public hearing about the draft permit. For more information, please contact Maria Bonney, PE, by telephone at 314-416-6205 or 800-361-4827.

This is a proposed new hazardous waste facility. Trioxy would like to operate a commercial infectious and hazardous waste treatment and storage facility at the site. Trioxy is currently constructing the infectious waste treatment component of the project under a permit issued by the department’s Solid Waste Management Program. On Dec. 22, 2016, Trioxy Inc. submitted a permit application to the department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7, to
obtain the required hazardous waste permit to store and treat hazardous waste.

After a thorough technical review of the permit application, the department prepared a draft Part I Permit for the Trioxy facility. The draft permit proposes to allow Trioxy to operate the proposed commercial hazardous waste storage and treatment component of the project. The public can review and copy the complete permit application, draft Part I Permit and supporting documents at the Louisiana Public Library, 121 N. Third St., Louisiana, Mo. (during normal business hours) or the agency locations above.

Comments on the draft Part I Permit are more effective if they point out legal or technical issues or provide information that is not in the record. You may submit written comments online or by mail to Maria Bonney, PE, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, 7545 S. Lindbergh Blvd., Suite 210, St. Louis, MO 63125-4839.

The Trioxy facility is located on about 4 acres at 3651 W. Industrial Park Drive in Louisiana, Mo. The property was previously used for agricultural purposes, mainly to grow corn.
Trioxy purchased the property in 2017, and would like to operate a fully-enclosed commercial hazardous waste and infectious waste treatment and storage facility at the site. The new facility is designed to manage both infectious waste and hazardous healthcare waste from hospitals, clinics, dentists and veterinarians. Trioxy proposes to treat healthcare wastes and blend it with liquid hazardous waste to create hazardous waste-derived fuels.

As of May 25, 2017, Trioxy has been constructing the infectious waste treatment component of the project under a permit issued by the department’s Solid Waste Management Program. The healthcare waste will be initially treated in an ozone disinfection/shredder unit. Once all pieces of solid waste are reduced to a size suitable for treatment, a high concentration of ozone gas will be injected into the shredding unit. The waste will then be sent to an enclosed treatment bin, where it will again be treated with ozone to finish the sterilization process. This process is similar to the technology used to disinfect drinking water.

The ozone-treated waste will then be sent to the fuel blending operation where it will be blended with liquid hazardous waste to achieve the desired fuel characteristics, such as BTU value and metals and chlorine content. The liquid hazardous waste will be a mixture of alcohols and spent solvents, including ethanol, methanol, isopropyl alcohol, benzene, toluene, xylene, furniture stripper, acetone, and a variety of other chemicals. Most of the hazardous waste will come from off-site permitted hazardous waste facilities that collect these wastes. Trioxy will also use water-based spent solvent they produce while washing reusable plastic containers in which infections waste is received. Trioxy will receive off-site hazardous waste in bulk tanker trucks, intermodal containers and drums, and healthcare waste in bins or boxes. Trioxy is proposing to operate two hazardous waste container storage areas, with a combined maximum volume of 50,314 gallons.

The liquid hazardous waste will be pumped into the fuel blending unit, blended with the ozone-treated waste and pumped to an outgoing tanker truck. Once the process is complete, the hazardous waste-derived fuel will be shipped off-site to the receiving permitted hazardous waste facilities to be used as a substitute for fossil fuels.

According to applicable state and federal hazardous waste laws and regulations, all hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facilities are required to investigate and clean up releases of hazardous waste and hazardous constituents to the environment at their facility resulting from present and past hazardous waste handling practices. Because this is a proposed new facility, there have been no releases or need for remediation at this site. However, the department did worked with Trioxy during review of their permit application to ensure no pre-existing contamination areas were located on property slated for permitting their operations.

On Dec. 22, 2016, Trioxy submitted a permit application to
obtain the required hazardous waste permit to store and treat hazardous waste.* Trioxy submitted revisions to the permit application on Dec. 27, 2016 and Jan. 31, 2017. The department determined the permit application was complete and approved the permit application for technical review on March 29, 2017.

The department prepared a draft Part I Permit for Trioxy, which proposes to allow Trioxy to operate the proposed commercial hazardous waste storage and treatment component of the project. The department invites the public to review and offer written comments on the Part I Permit during a 45-day public comment period, which began Feb. 14, 2018, and ends April 2, 2018.

*Trioxy obtained a separate permit from the department’s Solid Waste Management Program for the infectious waste element of the proposed facility.